


Bells in 1978

by Nemhaine42



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: Dancing, M/M, Marauders' Era, New Year's Eve, New Year's Kiss, Slytherin Common Room, fic + art
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-27
Updated: 2018-12-27
Packaged: 2019-09-28 17:39:39
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 1,098
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17187434
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Nemhaine42/pseuds/Nemhaine42
Summary: "What are you doing"?"Flirting with you. Is it working?"





	1. Chapter 1

“Dance with me.”

Severus tensed and hesitantly looked up from his book. His eyes flitted from side to side, checking that it was in fact him Regulus had spoken to.

“You what?”

“I said, ‘dance with me,’ Severus.” Regulus smiled, and leaned against the pillar that Severus was currently trying to hide behind. Snape had always been unsociable, with a temper like a wet cat, but in the last year or so he’d… well, mellowed would be the wrong word. Retreated, more like. Developed such a thick sullen shell around himself that he scarcely seemed to speak at all. 

Rather than go to the New Year party in the Great Hall - which he’d only begrudgingly attended in years previous - Severus stayed in the dungeon. Regulus was surprised to even see him the common room and not holed up in his bed with the curtains drawn.  Close to midnight, their classmates were upstairs getting rowdy and here was Snape, sitting at the back of the room, reading. 

“C’mon, Severus. Surely Golpalott can wait for just one evening?” Regulus urged. 

Snape gave the room another once-over, clearly eyeing their potential audience. It was only a few first years, the odd student known for being averse to crowds, and one third year boy who kept a close eye and ear on the radio, having enchanted it to play some suspiciously muggle-sounding stations. There were a couple of mermaids peering into the large arched windows, but they were there all the time. 

“Please?” Regulus begged, holding his hand out. 

Severus whispered something that might have been “okay” and marked his place in the book, abandoning it on the bench seat. He took Regulus’ hand and was swiftly tugged to his feet and into the middle of the room. He put his right hand on Regulus’ arm, just below the shoulder, and stood so far away from Regulus’ body that you could have gotten a whole other person in between them.  

“No, silly. Come closer.” He slid his hand around Severus’ waist and pulled them together, almost chest to chest. Still not proper form by a long shot but what did it matter when Severus turned pink and swallowed thickly. 

Of course, they hadn’t escaped the notice of the other Slytherins. The boy by the radio flicked his wand at the set and it began to play a soft, swaying tune. Regulus lead, Severus certainly wasn’t going to. And they fell into an easy shuffle, that almost passed for a box step. Severus’ hands quickly became clammy and he tripped a little bit. He glanced nervously around them again, finding no-one pointing and laughing. Two younger girls had paired off and were engaged in a similar cuddle-and-spin stepless dance. But the others had gone back to their game of cards, and divining the fortunes of the coming year by chucking things in the fire. 

“See? Not so bad, is it?”

“Couldn’t you have done this upstairs?”

“You weren’t upstairs, so no. I couldn’t.” 

Regulus smiled and held Snape’s fidgeting gaze, and smirked with delight when Severus’ face went from pink to scarlet. Regulus had come back down to Slytherin House fully expecting to be denied, and to return to having his toes tread on by Emmeline Vance or having Rosier dribbling sexual innuendo in his ear all night. But here he was, the cat that got the cream, with Severus all to himself. 

They'd danced before at Lucius and Narcissa's wedding. If two teenagers shuffling around the edge of the dancefloor could be counted as dancing . Regulus thought it did. Wine and whisky had flowed more plentifully that evening compared to the innocuous fruit punch on offer in the common room tonight, laced though it was with Elixir of Euphoria. And Severus hadn’t gone the delightful rosy shades he was sporting now. 

“I like it when you blush for me.”

At this, Severus looked Regulus square in the eye. It was a twitchy, anxious look. As if Regulus’ words gave him fear and hope in equal measure. 

Severus wasn’t what you’d call a handsome lad. Even now in his seventh year, he was still harassed over it by childish schoolmates. Snape was somebody that Regulus’ Aunt Druella would say ‘hadn’t yet grown into himself.’ He was only a fraction shorter than Regulus but he was so curled in on himself that he appeared all the more so. 

There  _ was _ something in his face, a suggestion that he’d wear age better than youth. But Regulus thought that looks didn’t matter much when you could hex circles around witches and wizards twice your age. He’d watched, enraptured, when Avery had produced a puzzle box on the train and Severus had it open before Avery could even finish explaining what it was for. 

That was when Regulus figured out something that few others had - Snape always had his thinking cap on. Always. No matter how little he spoke. Whether the situation called for it or not. Regulus had been with other boys who, when dancing or sitting by the fire, simply let their minds switch off. Which was all well and good, but Regulus’ brain liked a bit of company now and then. And Severus knew exactly which books in the Restricted Section were worth reading, as if he’d read them all years ago. He scribbled Latin on spare bits of parchment, trying to engineer new spells. Severus didn’t just  _ do _ magic, he  _ made _ it. 

Regulus wanted into that head, to hear the things he kept to himself, to know just how smart Severus was. And he wondered what Snape thought of this: he leaned in and gently nuzzled their noses together. He was so close he could count the lashes in Severus’ gleaming black eyes.  

“What are you doing?” Severus whispered. They’d stopped dancing and simply stood there, still holding on to each other. 

“Flirting with you. Is it working?” 

Severus licked his lips and Regulus smirked. 

The radio fizzed as the station was quickly changed to a countdown that had already reached five… four… three… 

“Happy New Year, Severus.” Regulus purred and, before a reply could be made, pressed their lips together. 

Severus jolted a little at the sensation but soon returned the kiss. It was clear he hadn’t much experience with kissing but he was a quick study, of that Regulus was sure. They stood in the middle of the carpet in front of the fire, blissful and ignorant of the younger students around them cheering and clinking glasses  Far above them, muffled by distance and lake water, chiming bells rang in 1978. 


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Me and my art can also be found on DeviantArt and Tumblr, both under 'nemhaine42'

**Author's Note:**

> My first foray into writing HP fanfic. Thank you to readbycandlelight and mugsandpugs for beta-ing. Chapter two will be the accompanying fanart and will be up as soon as I remember how to embed images.


End file.
